NeilPryde slalom team spent three months in Maui this winter preparing for the PWA slalom season ahead. They created a short video series documenting their experience and providing racing tips and tricks for slalom windsurfers. In Episode 1, Antoine Albeau talks us through racing sail tuning.

Matt Pritchard of Pritchard Windsurfing brings us this great jibin tip for your windsurfing! Kevin says the boom slides is, “one of the most key elements to making your jibes consistently and in control.”

Kevins Top Secret Tips

Get your hand to the bast before you flip the sail

Stop grabbing the mast and stalling out, move those hands!

Stay LOW reach UNDER your arm to the new boom

THROW the mast forward STEP hard onto your new front foot

Keep your head looking where you want to Go!

and STAY LOW…..

The further you keep the rig away from you the easier it is to stay low and in control!

It’s important to realize how much correct sail tuning can affect performance and your fun on the water. Downhaul tension and the overall luff curve of the sail is affected by the downhaul measurement, so it is very important to achieve the optimal setting for your session.

You probably know about the luff measurement marked on your sail, for example 12cm, and you set your base to 12cm. But did you know each manufacture might have slightly different measurements, so if you are using a different brand extension this could be crucial. So although not noticeable to the eye, a centimeter can make a large difference So use this method to confirm your specs.

When designing sails, manufacturers measure the downhaul from the bottom of the mast to the perpendicular projection of the bottom corner of the sail pulley. That information is
then printed in the sail.

The downhaul is one of the most crucial steps to rigging. It controls the shape of your windsurfing sail and can’t be changed while sailing. Finally, confirm that your tack pulley is as close to the base pulley as possible.

Check out the video where Artur Szpunar of Maui Sails explains how to tune and measure your downhaul settings according to the sail specification box.Continue Reading →

The forward loop is one of those classic moves that just about everyone wants to crack and everyone is teaching. To find the basics of the move I would suggest checking in on a clinic with a pro-coach (maybe I will do a clinic in the future if there is any demand), you’ll learn plenty about it from how to grow the balls to get yourself back slapping to landing upright. What you will get from this bit of text and video is how to get height out of nothing and how to land with the same speed you went into it.

There are three key factors that you can learn one at a time. When these are combined you’ll find yourself rotating and landing like never before.

1. THE TAKE-OFF
Two essential parts to this, you want to be well powered up or to the point of being almost over powered. This way you will help yourself when it comes to the next two parts. For the take-off itself you need a small bit of chop, either coming at you or going away and somewhere between across the wind and a broad reach (a bit off the wind), if we are talking clocks where 12 on the clock is pointing into the wind then you want a ramp that is between 3 and 4.30, ideally 4 is the perfect angle. Quite often if I have the choice (when on wind blown chop) to take off a bit of chop into the wind or head off the wind, I’ll choose the back of the chop that is off the wind, when you do this, you must make sure you are going faster than into the wind.

For the actual technique to the take-off it is simple:

Don’t be afraid to pick up speed and GO FAST (it’s not dirt, grass or sand, it’s just water)

Hands back (both of them) the back hand to the back of the boom where the clamp is to extend the boom and the front hand (thumb) touching the harness lines. Do this the second before take-off. This is one bit to change if you are still landing on your back despite following all of this. Check the additional tips below.

As you push down (as hard as you can) on the back foot for take-off (keep focus on hands though), extend as high as you can with your front hand towards the sky and in the direction of the apparent wind (just upwind a bit from the nose of the board). Don’t apply any pressure to the sail with the back hand by sheeting in yet, just use it to reach even higher, like you are at the bottom part of a pull-up.

2. THE ROTATION (PULL-UP)
This part is simple, really you get this bit right and it’s 70% of the move. To rotate fast you have to…………..

Video and Word by Adam Sims. You cna check out his website at adamsims.com

Seen more and more, the double forward loop is becoming a standard move in competitions. Not just the PWA World Tour but even national tours as well. So with more and more going for them, it’s about time we find out the finer details and technique. We approached Marcilio Browne to give us the low-down on how to go big!